This year’s Otakon sported an expanded artist alley. Last year the space was paired with the autograph area, but this time around artist alley didn’t have to share. The extra wide aisles and a few empty tables showed there was plenty of room to grow for the alley as Otakon gets more used to its DC location.
I spent all my extra minutes and a lot of the con proper exploring the artist alley. I even made a little time to walk the art show this year. There was an amazing turn out of talent!
Otakon this year put a song in my heart. A Fire Bomber song.
Otakon Otakon
Otakon explosion once again
Otakon Otakon
Every day every night everywhere
It was a Mecha Matsuri at Otakon this year and the crowning jewel was Shoji Kawamori. He is up there with Yoshiyuki Tomino and Go Nagai as names that have forever changed mecha anime. He alone could be a headliner for any anime convention but Nobutoshi Canna, Kanetake Ebikawa, and Tatsuyuki Nagai, the Studio Trigger staff, and the panel selection really sealed the deal that Otakon 2018 was the year of the robot.
From panels to guests to screenings to autographs, nearly any hour of the day during Otakon there was something mecha related going on. This mecha bombardment even showed up in some of the surprise licenses for the convention. (That Voltes V screening wasn’t just a fluke!) Classic and modern mecha were represented in good measure.
While that might sound overwhelming, Otakon is big enough to have a theme like mecha at its center, but still have plenty of variety. With seven panel rooms, three workshops, an expanded artist alley, the huge video game room, photoshoots, and various other events I had no problem taking a mecha break.
(note: No Type-Moon Weekly News Round Up or All Points Bulletin this week)
2018 is the year of The Mecha at Otakon. Many of the guests are mecha related, and there are a whole slew of mecha panels and workshops every day. Shoji Kawamori’s work on Macross and The Vision of Escaflowne alone could give a convention a robotic atmosphere but Nobutoshi Canna, Kanetake Ebikawa, Masaya Matsukaze, Tatsuyuki Nagai, Yoh Yoshinari, Toshifumi Yoshida, and Masahiko Otsuka make it a mecha matsuri. In addition, there’s two Final Fantasy concerts, a healthy lineup of other guests, lots of non-mecha programming, and many of the people behind Mystic Messenger. So there is a smorgasbord of content for robot fans but enough for everyone else as well.
Beyond that, we are very curious to see how Otakon settles into DC in its second year. It will be interesting to see how many fans come back now that Otakon has shown that its first year in DC went well, how many new people come out thanks to positive buzz, and what Otakon does differently to capture the attention of fandom in general.
Our tentative schedule for the convention:
Friday
09:00 AM Fate/Stay Confused
09:00 AM Transformers: The Birds & The Bumblebees
10:15 AM Toshifumi Yoshida Q&A
10:15 AM Gundam Wing: A Retrospective
12:45 PM ProZD Q&A
01:00 PM Nobutoshi Canna Autograph
01:00 PM Kanetake Ebikawa Autograph
01:00 PM Shoji Kawamori Autograph
02:20 PM Hiroatsu Kihara Q&A
03:15 PM Shoji Kawamori Q&A
04:00 PM Anime Magical Girl Photoshoot
04:30 PM Nobutoshi Canna Q&A
05:00 PM My Hero Academia Photoshoot
05:45 PM Kanetake Ebikawa Panel
07:00 PM The Science of Mecha
07:00 PM Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy
08:30 PM Glittering Courtesans and Illustrious Geisha: The Working Women of Yoshiwara [18+]
08:45 PM For the Love of Folklore: A Fan Perspective on Rumiko Takahashi
09:30 PM The Evolution of Action Shōnen
10:45 PM A Brief History of Mecha: The Changing Symbolism of Giant Robots Over 50 Years
12:00 AM Panel Of The Galactic Heroes : A New Thesis
Saturday
09:00 AM Mecha Fight Club: Discussions in Giant Robots
09:00 AM Cancelled Anime: Gone Before Their Time
10:15 AM A Look Inside Studio Pierrot
11:00 AM Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Photoshoot
11:30 AM PTSD in anime- Why all mecha pilots need therapy
12:15 PM Little Witch Academia Live Drawing
12:45 PM Apocalypse in Anime
02:30 PM Hi Score Girl Premiere
03:15 PM Firearms of the Empire of Japan
04:30 PM History of Mecha Pt. 1: The 60s & 70s
05:45 PM New Anime for Older Fans
07:00 PM Anime Face Lift: Remakes and Revivals Over the Decades
08:15 PM Fate/Stay Night and Type Moon: A World of Magic and Mystery
08:15 PM For Boys By Girls: The Women Who Make Shounen Manga
09:30 PM Coats, Steel, and Pixie-Cuts: The Life & Times of Nightow
10:45 PM Gattai! Mecha Anime of 198X
Sunday
09:00 AM The Ultimate Tanaka Yoshiki Fan Panel
09:00 AM Dawn of the Rising Sun: Japan Before the Samurai
10:15 AM Yuri on Ice vs. Figure Skating
10:15 AM Tatsuyuki Nagai Q&A
11:30 AM Otakorp and You: Demographics and Financials
12:00 PM Maid for You – The Art of Table Talk & Japanese TTRPGs
02:00 PM Anime’s Inside Jokes and Cultural References Explained
02:00 PM A New World: Intimate Music from Final Fantasy
03:00 PM Closing Ceremonies
04:00 PM Con Feedback Session
Reverse Thieves 